Activate Rural Public Workshop: Northeast Minnesota
Location: Buhl-Kinney Senior Center, 302 Frantz St, Buhl, MN 55713
Date + Time: Tuesday, October 8, 2024, 9am - 3pm
Join the Department of Public Transformation (DoPT) at our Northeast Activate Rural Public Workshop on the Iron Range in Buhl, MN (pop. 909). This one-day workshop will provide connections for artists, creative entrepreneurs, small business owners, activators and leaders developing creative physical places of connection for their communities. Participants will take away community engagement strategies, funding resource ideas, and structures for stewardship and operations for rural creative gathering places. During the workshop, attendees will hear from the following speakers:
Hannah Holman, DoPT Creative Operating Officer, will lead a discussion with Whitney Ridlon, IRRRB Community Development Director, and Elissa Hansen, Northspan President and CEO, about the funding opportunities and challenges that exist in Northeast MN and share DoPT’s capital campaign journey with The YES! House.
Sarina Otaibi, DoPT Activate Rural Program Director, will share how artist-led building activation and community engagement around physical spaces can cultivate a creative ecosystem for your community and region with examples from The YES! House in Granite Falls, MN (pop. 2,697).
Benjamin Domask-Ruh, DoPT Activate Rural Coordinator, will share his experience around youth-based engagement through the Circus Arts and Renee Loeffler, Buhl City Council Member, will share how the City of Buhl is beginning their Youth Center initiative as a part of DoPT’s Activate Rural Learning Lab.
Travel Stipends: If the cost of travel is a barrier to your participation, you may request a travel stipend for mileage reimbursement when registering for the workshop. The travel stipends are for participants traveling within the northeast region of the state and are on a first come, first serve basis.
Registration is required, but it is free. Food and beverages will be provided including lunch. For workshop and registration questions, please contact Benjamin Domask-Ruh, Activate Rural Program Coordinator, at benjamin@publictransformation.org.
This workshop is a part of the Activate Rural Public Workshop Series, workshops and sessions designed to offer support, peer learning, and resources to creative entrepreneurs, artists, organizations and small business owners with creative physical places of connection based in rural Minnesota communities and the Native nations that share this geography, with a population of 20,000 or less. This program is supported, in part, by the State of Minnesota through a grant from The Office of Small Business Development, Department of Employment and Economic Development.